


Lean On Me

by DigitalSiamese



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Drift Side Effects, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Mentions of Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:06:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25897903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitalSiamese/pseuds/DigitalSiamese
Summary: Mako discovers just how much Raleigh is carrying.
Relationships: Raleigh Becket & Mako Mori
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	Lean On Me

Raleigh is tired. Mako can see it in his eyes.

They’re _all_ tired here at the Shatterdome, tired from working day-in and day-out, tired from counting the numbers of their dead, tired of fighting a war that seems like it’ll never be over. But Raleigh is tired in the way that only carrying the loss of a loved one can make you. His shoulders are broad and bowed; he holds his head up but his gaze is elsewhere.

Five years, four months. Mako knows about Yancy’s death before she ever meets Raleigh, but even if she hadn’t, she would have recognized his grief. She sees her own every time she looks in the mirror.

When they drift for the first time, Raleigh’s mind is open and clear - at least at first. He glances over at her to check in, and that’s when the memory hits him: not one of his own, but one of Yancy’s, triggered by being back inside _Gypsy Danger_ , by standing where his brother last stood. The shock of it rocks them both out of alignment and Mako goes spiraling out of control, unable to keep herself from following a memory down, down, down.

It isn’t until after, until they’ve been unharnessed and undressed and sent to their rooms, that Mako realizes exactly what happened. Raleigh’s and Yancy’s memories of that last moment together are muddled in her mind, but the pain and terror are clear. All these years, Raleigh has been burdened with living the same moment twice. Mako can’t imagine what it must be like to feel someone die.

For the briefest of seconds, she doubts herself, doubts that she’ll be able to calm her mind enough to drift with him again. Yet just as quickly as that thought came to her, it is replaced by an iron resolve. She made a promise to her family to avenge them, and now she makes a promise to Raleigh: no more will he have to carry his brother’s death alone. He was brave enough to let someone into his mind again; she is brave enough to bear the weight.

She remembers, with a fond smile, how he cradled her after their test run went awry. She needed him in that moment. And now he needs her to get back in the drift. For her family. For Yancy.

They both loved and lost the same, but now neither of them will have to do it alone.


End file.
